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Tivity to mechanical and cold stimuli. Furthermore, the global PFC methylation co-varied with the severity of neuropathic pain. It is currently unclear why similar correlations were not (��)-Hexaconazole chemical information observed in the uninjured, control mice. While it is also not clear whether it is the enrichment itself or the pain attenuation that is mediating the reversal of hypomethylation in the PFC, data from the enrichment experiment nonetheless suggests that the methylation changes in the brain are dynamic and reversible by a behavioral intervention. Regardless, the particularly relevant since, in human patients with low back pain, both pain duration and intensity has been related to reduced grey matter in the PFC [41], and the magnitude of pain reduction following treatment correlated with corresponding increases in the thickness and normalization of functional activity in the PFC [4].Changes in DNA Methylation following Nerve InjuryWe therefore speculate that the regulation of global methylation such as described here may contribute to the dynamic changes in cortical structure and function observed in human chronic pain patients.Distance from the Time and Site of InjuryThe main finding emphasized in this manuscript is the longrange effects of peripheral nerve injury on the mouse methylome. Equally interesting is the observation that these methylation changes occur at a site distant from the original injury. While epigenetic changes have been reported in the dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord following persistent pain states [30,31], here we focused on higher-order processing centers in the brain. Interestingly, in the study by Wang et al., decreasing global DNA methylation in the spinal cord resulted in attenuation of pain symptoms in the first two weeks following chronic constriction of the sciatic nerve in rats; this is the opposite of what we would predict in the PFC [30]. Thus, the directionality and consequences of changes in global DNA methylation in chronic pain may be region-specific (spinal vs. supraspinal), species-specific (rat vs. mouse), may vary by type of injury or may vary as a function of chronicity (2 weeks vs. 6 months). Each of these possible explanations has potential clinical implications, additional studies are needed to further explore this discrepancy. Pain is more than mere nociception; according to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is defined as “…an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” [42]. It is therefore crucial that we study the effects of chronic pain in areas that are involved in perception and emotional processing, such as the PFC and amygdala. Our data draws attention to the nature of chronic pain as a complex phenomenon: it is associated with higher order behavioral comorbidities beyond changes in nociceptive thresholds, and it encompass a wide range of conditions that make chronic pain a disease that is difficult to understand and to treat.effect on the expression of individual genes in chronic pain conditions are needed. Such studies are currently PS 1145 underway in our laboratory. Our study does not distinguish between the effects of nerve injury from those of ongoing chronic pain and its comorbidities. It is possible that the observed supraspinal changes are due to other effects of the nerve injury itself such as motor impairment 22948146 instead of being a consequence of living with chronic pain. Final.Tivity to mechanical and cold stimuli. Furthermore, the global PFC methylation co-varied with the severity of neuropathic pain. It is currently unclear why similar correlations were not observed in the uninjured, control mice. While it is also not clear whether it is the enrichment itself or the pain attenuation that is mediating the reversal of hypomethylation in the PFC, data from the enrichment experiment nonetheless suggests that the methylation changes in the brain are dynamic and reversible by a behavioral intervention. Regardless, the particularly relevant since, in human patients with low back pain, both pain duration and intensity has been related to reduced grey matter in the PFC [41], and the magnitude of pain reduction following treatment correlated with corresponding increases in the thickness and normalization of functional activity in the PFC [4].Changes in DNA Methylation following Nerve InjuryWe therefore speculate that the regulation of global methylation such as described here may contribute to the dynamic changes in cortical structure and function observed in human chronic pain patients.Distance from the Time and Site of InjuryThe main finding emphasized in this manuscript is the longrange effects of peripheral nerve injury on the mouse methylome. Equally interesting is the observation that these methylation changes occur at a site distant from the original injury. While epigenetic changes have been reported in the dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord following persistent pain states [30,31], here we focused on higher-order processing centers in the brain. Interestingly, in the study by Wang et al., decreasing global DNA methylation in the spinal cord resulted in attenuation of pain symptoms in the first two weeks following chronic constriction of the sciatic nerve in rats; this is the opposite of what we would predict in the PFC [30]. Thus, the directionality and consequences of changes in global DNA methylation in chronic pain may be region-specific (spinal vs. supraspinal), species-specific (rat vs. mouse), may vary by type of injury or may vary as a function of chronicity (2 weeks vs. 6 months). Each of these possible explanations has potential clinical implications, additional studies are needed to further explore this discrepancy. Pain is more than mere nociception; according to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is defined as “…an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” [42]. It is therefore crucial that we study the effects of chronic pain in areas that are involved in perception and emotional processing, such as the PFC and amygdala. Our data draws attention to the nature of chronic pain as a complex phenomenon: it is associated with higher order behavioral comorbidities beyond changes in nociceptive thresholds, and it encompass a wide range of conditions that make chronic pain a disease that is difficult to understand and to treat.effect on the expression of individual genes in chronic pain conditions are needed. Such studies are currently underway in our laboratory. Our study does not distinguish between the effects of nerve injury from those of ongoing chronic pain and its comorbidities. It is possible that the observed supraspinal changes are due to other effects of the nerve injury itself such as motor impairment 22948146 instead of being a consequence of living with chronic pain. Final.